Naso – Elevate, Lift up; Paleo Hebrew meaning: Life support
Numbers (B’midbar) 4:21 – 7:89
Judges (Shoftim) 13:2-25
Acts (of the Holy Spirit) 21:17-26
In today’s world, vows don’t mean much anymore. It’s too common to find spouses who refuse to acknowledge and uphold the vows they made with each other on their wedding days. Shockingly, whistleblowers reveal that no one in any position of government authority takes an oath of office anymore (see MISSING OATHS, May 26, 2023 on Brighteon.com). Nope, a genuine, authorized oath of office to uphold the U.S. Constitution has not been found for many years. Who does make or keeps oaths today?
But if anyone does promise to commit to doing something, we’re better off suspecting they’ll abandon their vow at their earliest convenience. Who can count on anyone in this world to keep promises anymore? We must be determined to be different from that!
Not Surprised When Prophesied
For those who understand the prophecies concerning the last days we now live in, we are not surprised by the breakdown of integrity in keeping one’s word. Here is Paul’s prophecy that is so true and descriptive of the children of this world in our day:
But realize, that in the last days, difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. Avoid such men as these. 2 Timothy 3:1-5, NASB
The word for ‘irreconcilable,’ ‘aspondos’ in the Greek, literally means without a libation accompanying a treaty. A libation is to devote or to spend one’s lifeblood as a sacrifice. In the Torah, a libation sacrifice was an act of covenant relationship with the Almighty. Aspondos is without that devotion; it’s also translated as – truceless, truce-breaker.
On the other hand, to make a solemn vow and to keep it is what Yah instructs His set-apart people. To demonstrate this point, the Torah gives instructions on how to keep a special kind of vow – a vow we’ll see made at critical junctures in the Scriptures:
Again YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to YHWH;’ Numbers 6:1-2
In Hebrew, the word for a vow is ‘nedar’ – a promise to do or give something to God (Strong’s #H5087). ’Nazir’ means to separate, to consecrate, such as with an unpruned vine like an unshorn Nazirite. The vow was for the Nazirite to promise YHWH not to drink or eat of the fruit of the vine and that he would not cut his hair. No grapes would be picked for him and no razor would be used on his head!
‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to YHWH, he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. Numbers 6:2-3
When Yeshua drank the fruit of the vine with His disciples on the Last Supper, He made a Nazirite vow:
And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. For I say to you, ‘I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.’” Luke 22:18
Our Messiah is dedicated to His vow to this day until the day He returns to drink the cup with His bride.
The Purpose of Paul's Vow
Upholding the Torah like Yeshua, Paul also made the vow of a Nazirite. Why? Paul made the promise in his defense to prove that he kept the Torah. The Jews were in an uproar over the new believers, accusing Paul that he was teaching them not to keep the Torah of Moses. Interestingly, Jacob (James) and the elders of Jerusalem came up with the idea to resolve the conflict, probably not Paul’s. From the Brit Hadashah portion, here’s their assessment of the conflict at hand and their charge to brother Paul:
“You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law; and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, nor to walk according to the customs.” Acts 21:20b-21
Paul took a Nazirite vow, and this was his solution to the Jews’ dispute with him over whether he was still a Torah keeper or not. Let’s study what the Jerusalem elders said:
“What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you also walk orderly, keeping the Torah.” Acts 21:22-24
It wasn’t just Paul who did ‘walk orderly, keeping the Torah,’ the elders of Jerusalem did so as well. These elders had to lead and instruct the new believers in the Messiah Yeshua to keep the Torah, or they would have been ‘least in the Kingdom’ according to the Master Himself (Matthew 5:19). If they taught against Moses, they would have disqualified themselves as elders in Jerusalem. Paul would have been in the same boat.
The next instruction by the elders to the leaderships to the new Messianic congregational leadership was given according to the Torah of Moses:
“But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.” Acts 21:25
These areas of instruction have common threads with the three areas of instruction in the central portion of the Torah – Acherei Mot. The elders came up with nothing new here. These three instructions were how to be holy, set apart and undefiled from idolatry, sexual immorality, and unclean eating. For millennia, Jewish parents have taught this portion to their children at early ages, instructing them on how to be set apart unto HaShem. These instructions are central to any believer wanting to live holy unto YHWH, keeping set apart from the corruptions and defilements of the world.
Raised in the Torah, Paul attempted to keep the Torah his entire life. But it wasn’t until his encounter with Yeshua on the way to Damascus that he could truly keep the Torah by grace, once he was born again. Without the Messiah living in us, we can do nothing.
To prove his lifelong dedication to the Torah, Paul kept the Nazirite vow according to its every instruction, including the days of purification and korbanot offerings at the Temple.
Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them. Acts 21:16
Do you believe that Paul rejected the practices and the authorities of the Temple and its priestly service? Paul ministered in the days after the crucifixion when the veil was rent in the Temple upon Yeshua’s crucifixion. Did Yeshua do away with the temple service? According to what we just read, Paul respected and submitted to the priestly authorities and the Temple service in keeping his solemn vow to YHWH. Not only did Paul uphold his vow to keep his word, but he also upheld the Torah, keeping the Word of YHWH to His glory.
Dedication to the Torah of Moses Today
We have all made some kind of vow with regard to our faith. Years ago with many other men, I vowed to be a ‘Promise Keeper.’ I’ve sung “I surrender all.” However we said it, we promised Yah that we would do what He said for us to do. In effect, we’ve repeated the same vow, echoing the children of Israel vowing to Yah on Mount Sinai –
And Moses came and called the elders of the people. And he put all these words before them which YHWH commanded him. And all the people answered together and said, “All which YHWH has spoken we will do.” Exodus 19:7-8
Following Yeshua and learning from Paul, may we renew our dedication to keeping the Torah of Moses by the Spirit, according to the teachings of Yeshua and the apostles.
Let’s learn from another Nazirite – Samson. Let’s remember not to put our heads in the lap of Delilah. Consequently, Samson’s enemies put his eyes out. Let’s not break our vows to Yah by committing adultery – spiritually or physically. Let’s not deviate from the promises we have made to keep the commandments, lest we become spiritually blind.
Thanks be to Yeshua Who opens blind eyes to see – for those of us who have not kept their vows to YHWH. When we repent for breaking our promises to Him, He renews our strength. He empowers us to move forward in life to defeat the enemy, able to see the path of righteousness ahead and be dedicated again to keeping His commandments by His grace and by the power of His Spirit. We’re all a work in progress.
So stay the course! Let’s be dedicated to keeping the vows we made before our Elohim, that we made to others, to our spouses, and any working agreements; especially our vows to our Master Yeshua, keeping His commandments until He returns.
Following the footsteps, keeping the promises,
David Klug
PS: Made vows to Leslie 26 years ago, May 31st